London mayor charged with fraud
Joe Fontana.
The mayor of London in Ontario, Canada is accused of using federal funds to pay for his son's wedding. How sweet. Mayor Joe Fontana faces charges of fraud, The Toronto Sun reported. The charges relate specifically to a $1,700 check issued by Public Works Canada that was used to pay the Marconi Club, a social club that has little use for Public Works money.
But the London Free Press put a much higher number on the fraud. A former Marconi Club manager told The Free Press that Fontana spent $20,000 in federal government money on the wedding.
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Given those allegations, the charge he faces of fraud under $5,000 reported by The Canadian Press doesn't sound so bad.
A motion last month calling on Fontana to temporarily step down while the accusations against him were being investigated was introduced in City Council. But the motion was ultimately shut down without any debate, CBC News reported.
On his website, Fontana takes the popular political approach of denying the allegations without addressing them specifically. "Make no mistake, I treat the allegations that have been levied as serious, but I have not and will not allow them to be a distraction from my duties and obligations of my office," he wrote.
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